Sunday, February 24, 2013

The CCG patrol boat G.Peddle emerged from the module shop at Halifax Shipyard on Friday and by 1300hrs today had been rolled back in again, newly painted.

CCGS Constable Carrière, which is also under construction, was tarped over to prevent overpsray in the brisk winds.

A primer coat was quickly followed by an undercoat which looked very navy like.It was left overnight.

This morning a painter finishes off the white superstructure and the module shop door has been opened to take the ship back inside.
I have been told that this work is done on the weekends because the painters are independent contractors and not members of the shipyard unions. To avoid conflict, and to ensure that the contractor has control of the work area (for guarantee reasons) there are few if any other shipyard workers on site.

Mysterious quarter pocket, with water tight door, is covered with a liftable plate when the ship is completed,

Saturday, February 23, 2013

White Pearl arrived to day for class survey en route to Contrecouer, QC. The ship is operated by SMT Shipping, a Poland/Cyprus company that specializes in running older ships, often of this type, which are well past their prime years. Generally they have some self-loading/unloading capability and operate in low margin trades.
According to an article in The February 2013 issue of Western Mariner magazine, it was fifty years ago that the "open hatch" cargo ship was developed for Crown Zellerbach's forest product trade on the west coast of North America. Simply put, these are ships with hatches the same size as the holds. The holds are squared off with wing tanks in the left over spaces on the sides of the ship. This "lost space" is made up for by the ease of loading and unloading directly from the holds, without double handling of cargo. At the same time the Norwegian firm of Sverre Munck A/S developed traveling gantry cranes, that ran along rails on deck. Special gear was developed for handling baled timber or paper rolls, and awnings on the gantries provided weather protection.
The method caught on with several operators, including Gearbulk, originally set up in 1968 by Krisitian Gerhard Jebsen, Louis Dreyfus and others. Since them the company has become 51% owned by the Kristian Jebsen family and 49% by Mitsui-OSK Lines and has 60 open hatch gantry ships up to 70,000 tons, and they carry all manner of cargo with discharge rates similar to container ships.White Pearl was built to operate in the Gearbulk fleet, as Monique LD (Louis Dreyfus ships usually had the "LD" suffix). It was a product of the Stocznia im Komuny Paryskiej yard in Gdynia Poland, and measures 26,130 gross tons, 39,273 deadweight. Its two gantries are rated at 25 tonnes. In 1990 it adopted the name Siskin Arrow (Arrow is a common suffix in the Gearbulk fleet) and acquired its current name in 2011.
Upon joining the SMT fleet, the ship has been fitted with grab buckets and now carries bulk cargoes, even though it is classed as a general cargo ship.The port at Contrecouer, is about 40 miles downstream from Montreal, but is part of the Port of Montreal.It is home to a major steel making complex operated by ArcelorMittal, producing billets, rod, rebar and other steel products from iron ore and scrap metal.
There are plans to improve the port's US rail link via CSX through Beauharnois, QC to Syracuse, NY to accommodate containers as a way of expanding the Port of Montreal, which is geographically restricted.

Friday, February 22, 2013

The Harper government took a break today from its usual press releases regarding the War of 1812 (isn't it over yet?) by announcing some preliminary contracts for the Joint Support Ships, fisheries research vessels and the new icebreaker to be named CCGS John G. Diefenbaker. The statement released in Vancouver, is short on detail, but amounts to $15.7mn for somebody. Since the construction work will take place on the West coast, that is why the announcement was made there, but if it is design work, we're not sure where it will actually be done.
The announcement including the startling statement that delivery of CCGS John G. Diefenbaker will coincide with the decommissioning of CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent, skilfully avoids saying when that will be. It was supposed to be in 2017, but it looks like it may be farther off than that if they are unwilling to give a date in a press release.
Speaking of the Louis, word reaches me that she may now be out of service for a time due a puncture in her bow. This was apparently acquired while assisting the broken down cargo ship Maple Lea somewhere north of PEI.
The ship was outbound from Summerside, PE when it lost all power February 17 and began to drift. The tugs Atlantic Beech and Spanish Mist managed to take the ship in tow, but somehow Louis S. St-Laurent and Maple Lea came into contact resulting in holes in the ship's stern and Louis's bow.
The whole bunch arrived safely in Sydney last night where the fallout is now beginning to rain down.
It is difficult to get direct news on this story, but it would appear that yet again we have a Canadian government ship with a hole in it in Sydney.
The Louis certainly has battle scars, including that long crease in her starboard side near the stern, that has been there for many years - I've never heard how she got that one, but she will certainly have some downtime after this latest incident, and just when she is badly needed for Gulf ice work.

It was also revealed today that Halifax Shipyard will be allowed to bid on major refits of CCGS Earl Grey, Edward Cornwallis and Sir William Alexander. It was originally thought that being awarded the big contract would make the yard ineligible for work on smaller ships. Is this a subtle way of telling Irving that maybe the contract isn't going to be as full as it once was?
Since all information on the shipbuilding contracts is now being released by the government only, and both ISI and Seaspan are under strict gag orders, only time will tell.

A rare sight these days is a tanker at the Nova Scotia Power generating station in Tuft's Cove. The plant was converted to burn natural gas, so it was a bit of a surprise to see the ship Asopos which arrived earlier this morning.
Built in 2006 by Sumitomo Heavy Industry and Marine Engineering Co Ltd in Yokosuka, Japan, it is a Panamax crude oil tanker of 35,711 gross tons and 61,286 deadweight tonnes. One of seven sister ships operated by Pleiades Shipping Agents of Greece (with offices in the UK and Stamford, CT) it is registered in Liberia. Pleiades also operates a pair of Aframax crude carriers and has three crude/product/chemical carriers on order.
The ship's last port was New York, and it arrived with much less than a full cargo of black oil. The cargo was likely purchased by NSP on the spot market at a bargain price -possibly for incineration.
Unlike the more usual Korean built tankers we see these days, this ship has a dramatically raked stem and prominent bulbous bow.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

With the Sea Shepherd Society once more in the headlines for its campaign against Japanese whaling in the south Pacific, one of its former ships is again on the auction block.
In August 1996 the Sea Sepherd Society in Edinburgh, Scotland acquired a former Norwegian research and fisheries protection trawler. Built in 1958 as Johan Hort, it had been retired in 1983 and operated as a research ship, then an oil field safety and standby ship under the names of Skandi Ocean , STM Ocean, CAM Vulcan and M Vulcan.
Once under Sea Shepherd's ownership it was renamed Sea Shepherd in 1997, and Ocean Warrior in 2000, and finally in 2002 given the name of Farley Mowat, in recognition of that author's support of environmental issues.

2. Farley Mowat in a more colourful paint scheme, sails from Halifax in 2005.

In February 2005 while in Canadian waters protesting the seal hunt, the Department of Transport directed it into Halifax for compliance repairs.Then early in March it was reported leaking and a large Coast Guard operation involving three aircraft and two ships, ensured its safe arrival in Port aux Basques for repairs.
Early in 2006 the ship was detained in South Africa after protest activities against Japanese whaling in the South Pacific. In June it slipped out of Cape Town, claiming yacht status under the Canadian flag, and thus not needing to comply with regulations relating to commercial ships. It was later reported in Melbourne awaiting the 2007 Antarctic whaling season.
By May 2008 it was back off Newfoundland where it was charged with interfering in the seal hunt and intentionally bumping CCGS Des Groseillers. The ship was seized in Sydney and auctioned off. Buyers were Green Ship LLC of Oregon, which planned to use the ship to monitor and clean up pollution in the mid-Pacific. The ship was towed to Halifax in late 2009 then on the Lunenburg in March 2010.
Still bearing the name Farley Mowat, the ship has languished at a dock there ever since. In March 2011 the Waterfront Development Corp commenced an action against the ship for payment of berthing fees.On January 15, 2013 the Federal Court ordered the ship to be sold by tender. Bids are requested by February 27, 2013.

3. Arriving in Lunenburg with Atlantic Fir.

The Sea Shepherd groups have had many runs ins with authorities and have lost several ships over the years, through scuttling, arrest or collision. Three of those have visited Halifax.
First was Sea Shepherd II. Built in 1962 as the trawler St.Giles it replaced the original Sea Shepherd, that was scuttled off Leixoes, Portugal in 1979 after ramming a whale catcher. The Sea Shepherd II was in Canadian waters in 1982 and 1983 to protest sealing, and was seized in March 1983 off Chéticamp, NS and all 17 crew arrested (they were tear gassed after walking to shore over ice.) The ship itself was held in Halifax until 1985 when it was released. It was eventually broken up in Esquimalt, BC in 2004.
Another Sea Shepherd ship, was the former CCGS Thomas Carleton, which became the Sea Shepherd's Cleveland Amory in 1993. It made one very brief foray to the Grand Banks where it cut a Cuban vessels trawl lines, but then suffered a main engine failure and was towed to St.John's. It was also seized and sold and eventually reached the Caribbean, where it has likely been scrapped.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

It is not unheard of to see two ACL ships in port at the same time - it usually happens once or twice a year - but it is still unusual enough to warrant notice. Because the ships make westbound and eastbound calls in Halifax, when the westbound ship is delayed, it overlaps the eastbound caller.
Today's duo is Atlantic Companion and Atlantic Conveyor. Although Atlantic Companion was first to arrive, it apparently lost power and was met by two tugs which shepherded it into the number one anchorage area. Atlantic Conveyor then proceeded up west of George's Island, without tugs and headed directly for Fairview Cove to berth unassisted.Atlantic Conveyor was built in 1984 by Swan Hunter on the Tyne, and made its first call on Halifax February 1, 1985. It was lengthened in 1987 at Greenock, on the Clyde. As the British ship in Atlantic Container Line as it was originally organized, the ship was in fact owned and operated by Cunard Steamships Co Ltd, and was one of the last cargo ships operated by that venerable line. Under the current ACL configuration all ships are Swedish flagged. Atlantic Companion was built by Kockums in Malmo, Sweden in 1984 and lengthened in 1987 by Ulsan in South Korea.Originally owned by the Bostroms Group it has always been Swedish registered. From 1987 to 1994 it was renamed Companion Express under a vessel sharing arrangement with Hapag-Lloyd.
Its first call in Halifax was a westbound voyage March 27, 1984. Eastbound out of Halifax on April 7, 1984 it had a supercharger failure and had to be towed back into port by the tugs Point Vibert and Point Vigour. It seems to have suffered a less serious mechanical failure this time round, since it has now anchored in number one anchorage for a few hours for repairs. Atlantic Larch will remain alongside as long as the ship has no engine power.
There are five ships in the ACL fleet, allowing them to maintain a weekly transatlantic schedule -one of the toughest in the world.All are due for replacement in the very near future.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

The new extension to Halterm's pier 42 has been closed to the public since last week's big snow storm. As the prime shipwatching spot in Halifax it was rarely if ever closed before this extension was built. There were times that the walkway was knee deep in snow, but it was always open any time I was willing to brave it.
I regret not having the vantage point now, but as today's storm front passed through I think it was probably necessary to close it off for safety reasons.
Since the extension was built much larger waves have been washing in on the breakwater, and as can be seen from the above below, swells are actually reaching up onto the breakwater portion. There is no telling how much undermining this is doing, but there were several iffy areas before, and I expect a survey will reveal that they are much worse now.

Adding to the problem is the fact that the new pier extension walkway is too narrow for the snow clearing "Bobcat" that would normally be tasked with plowing. The old walkway was much wider. Not only that but the new pier extension area now drains across the walkway, resulting in very dangerous icing. In summary the walkway might not be safe even in good weather, if it is snow covered or icy.
Then there is the issue of the pier deck itself. Soon after it was built a number of heavy weight containers appeared on the deck. These are not waiting to be shipped anywhere-they are placed in nice even rows, well spaced, and must be there for a purpose. Is it true that they are there to ballast down the deck due to concerns about uplift from seas under the deck? If that is so, how about the cantilevered walkway itself?
The old walkway was of an entirely different design and was in fact an excellent deflector of seas. The new one does not give that level of confidence, and it will be interesting to see what it looks like when it re-opens.

Arriving for Melfi Lines this morning, Heinrich J anchored until Monday morning. The ship is obviously in ballast, and a check of the Melfi schedule on the Protos Shipping website reveals that is not arriving from Europe.www.protos.ca/

It appearts to have come directly froim Cuba instead, possibly due to the Christmas time problems with Renate Schulte, previously reported here. That ship made its last call here last week.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

For the 1,000th posting on this blog I have nothing particularly celebratory to report, so instead I will do a double header.

U.S. Coast Guard in Halifax

Despite the fact that the US of A is our closest neighbour, there is almost no US ship traffic in Halifax. There is a long tradition of the US Coast Guard paying courtesy calls, but they are usually few and far between. This week however we have seen quite a bit more of the US Coast Guard, with two cutters stopping over in Halifax for crew R&R.
First in was USCGC Northland, WMEC-904, which made a stopover February 11-14. It is based in Portsmouth, VA.

1. Northland sails on February 14, passing the old Canadian Coast Guard base in Dartmouth.

Today the Boston based USCGC Seneca WMEC 906 arrived.

2. The tug Atlantic Willow makes up to Seneca to assist in berthing.

Since the USCG's primary duties are SAR and law enforcement, one would be free to assume that some coordinated activity in the latter category may have brought the boats to this area. Both cutters belong to the Famous class of medium endurance patrol vessels. They have a crew of about 100 and are packed with serious surveillance electronics and are armed.

Both ships were hosted by HMC Dockyard.

Triumphant Return (not)

The almost ridiculously appalling conditions on the cruise ship Carnival Triumph after an engine room fire in the Gulf of Mexico, became the subject of considerable (and often over the top) media attention this week. Despite the lack of adequate food, sanitation, air conditioning (and stabilizers) all passengers survived their trip and landed back in Mobile yesterday. It will take several months to repair and sanitize the ship, but it does raise some interesting questions about cruise ship engineering design.

How is it that a modern ship has so little system redundancy that it would loose all but the most basic emergency systems after a fire?

The ship is powered by six diesel engines powering six generators and two electric propulsion motors. This is a fairly standard arrangement in modern ships (it was built in 1999 by Fincantieri). Should it not be possible to isolate some components to ensure that basic services can be maintained at all times? The US Transportation Safety Board will eventually publish findings on this, which may lead to changes in ship design.

3. Carnival Triumph made several calls in Halifax in 1999 when it was brand new.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

With much noise in the local press about an imminent signing of Phase II contracts in the ship procurement contract with Halifax Shipyard, physical work has started on the new launch area at the north end of the yard.
As we understand it, Phase II of the contracts is called the Definition Contract, worth multi-millions, most of which will be done elsewhere. Such yards as Maersk's former prime shipbuilding yard of Odense in Denmark, and General Dynamic's huge destroyer building yard in Bath, Maine, will carry out a lot of design and engineering work, but it will not involve the actual building of ships. That will be done in Phase III in Halifax.
In order to build the new ships, which will be too big and heavy to launch on the current launchway, a former steelyard in the north end of the yard at pier 6 will be converted to a side launch area. Ships will be rolled northward out of the fabrication hall and then eastward to Pier 6 where they will moved onto a new floating drydock and gently lowered into the harbour and floated off.
Pier 6 is of course best known as the Ground Zero area of the Halifax explosion in 1917, where the drifting IMO came ashore after the massive explosion which devastated the Richmond area of north end Halifax.
After the explosion the area was a wasteland, but was rebuilt by Halifax Shipyard and parent company Dosco, which used it as a coal stockpile. Then in 1960 it was fitted with a series of unique steel bridge structures, supported on steel encased concrete cells.The structures, topped with concrete, acted as a pier, supporting shipyard cranes, and on a lower level some machine ship functions.
This series of photos taken in September, 1960 shows construction of the bridge sections. *

Pier 6 was used a fitting out berth and for in water repairs, and was
heavily utilised during the oil rig building program of the 1960s and 70s.

8. Oil rig Sedco H under construction at pier 6 in 1969.The steel yard on the shore had its own traveling gantry crane.

9. Shipyard crane Timberland unloads oil rig leg sections from the barge Haltren No.1 at pier 6 in 1975. The sections were built by Dosco's Trenton Works and barged to Halifax.

For the past several years pier 6 has fallen into a state of disrepair and has seen little use, except at the very north end where Harbour Development Ltd keeps some of its dredging plant..
This week demolition crews moved in and have begun to dismantle the steel bridge sections.

New work will include dredging, a new pier face 10 meters farther to seaward, a pier extension of 250 meters and new buildings, as well as the hard stand where the new ships will be transferred to the drydock for launching.
Due to a change in the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, which came into effect July 6, 2012, there was no requirement to complete an assessment on the project.

* In the background of the 1960 construction photos are ships of the former Canadian National Steamships.CNSS laid up its ships rather than bow to union strike demands. A deal to sell the ships to Cuba fell through when Fidel Castro took over and most of the ships languished in Halifax for years until sold for scrap. Also appearing in photo #6 is the coal burning icebreaker CGS Saurel tied up at the north end of pier 6.

Friday, February 8, 2013

1. Halterm as seen from Point Pleasant Park. The new cranes will service the extended pier 42.

It was stated last week that Halterm's newest super post-Panamax container cranes will be arriving this summer.The new cranes will be installed at pier 42 directly from a heavy lift ship operated by the crane manufacturer. This will be essentially a repeat of the 2000 delivery of two such cranes to the same pier.
Shangai Zhen Hua Shipping Company has a whole fleet of converted bulk carriers, rebuilt to carry huge and heavy deck loads. Their decks are situated so that with proper ballasting the cranes can be rolled directly onto the dock from the ship.

2. In May 2000 Zhen Hua delivered two post -Panamax cranes to Halterm.

Halterm has also applied to the Canadian Transportation Agency to use the heavy lift ship Zhen Hua 19 to move the existing crane on pier 42 (at far right in photo#1 and in the foreground of photo#2) to pier 36.As a non-Canadian ship, it must have a coasting license to carry cargo "between Canadian ports".

3. Pier 36 has two cranes now, one of which was built with special dollies to allow it to move back and forth to pier 41. The pier only serves smaller ships, but could handle two at a time given enough cranes.

The old smaller crane will be used at pier 36 since it is not high enough to work the larger ships at pier 42. However it is only smaller ships that can use pier 36.

4. Zhen Hua 4 at anchor in May 2000. It also carried cranes for another port, and straddle carriers for Halterm.

The ship Zhen Hua 4 called in Halifax on two separate occasions. In May 2000 with the two cranes for Halterm, and in February 2002 with one crane for Fairview Cove. In order to pass under the bridges, that crane came on shorter legs, which were extended after the crane was landed.

5. The new cranes for Halterm will likely come full assembled as the last ones did, since there will be bridges to pass under in Halifax. It does mean however that they must sail from China via the Cape of Good Hope.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Oceanex, the company that provides container and RoRo shipping services to Newfoundland from Montreal and Halifax, is expanding its service even before delivery of its new ship in the fall of 2013.
A recent press report indicates that the company will be adding "another ship" to its Halifax run in Apriil. Whether this means an actual ship, or that they will be doubling their calls in Halifax is not clear. Last year Oceanex Sanderling was making two trips a week between Halifax and St.John's, but that has been down to once a week in recent months. However they have added Argentia to their routes, even though it is not shown on their published schedules. Development of the Vale nickel smelter in Long Harbour has resulted in an increase in traffic, so they have apparently added Argentia, the nearest port to Long Harbour, to reduce congestion and road traffic in St.John's. They dropped Corner Brook as a port of call last year, preferring to use trucks to move cargo from Corner Brook to St.John's. Both Oceanex Sanderling and Cabot have called in Argentia. The third, and newest ship in the current fleet, Oceanex Avalon is a container only ship.
The new ship, Oceanex Connaigra is under construction in Germany, with keel blocks to be laid February 12, launch May 1 and delivery October 1. The original assumption was that this ship would replace Cabot on the Montreal / St.John's service, but even that is now in question as traffic may warrant keeping Cabot, despite its age.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

A big part of the business of Halifax Harbour involves incoming crude oil.

The federal government's Minister of Natural Resources has "given the green light" to a proposal to convert a gas pipeline to an oil pipeline and to extend it from Quebec to Saint John to provide Alberta bitumen to the Irving Oil refinery.
This strange support, given that it is the National Energy Board that actually approves such things, could be considered political tampering in an established regulatory framework if another minister did it (or the mayor of Toronto, say), but I guess it is OK for the Oil minister to give the political signal that the government wants to ship Alberta Oil to the Maritimes.
I'm not saying I'm against it either, but since no application has actually been made to the regulator it does seem like jumping the gun a bit. So I am giving the proposal my "Amber Light."
Here's what I think should and should not happen if the 1mn bbls per day of Alberta tar sands bitumen makes it to the east via pipeline.

Most crude is imported from the world spot market.

1. The Province of Quebec will have to OK such a pipeline through its sovereign territory, and that is not a foregone conclusion by any means.Their biggest refinery, Ultramar in St-Romauld, (Lévis) gets its crude from Algeria as far as I can tell - and that is a far from a stable domestic source as we have seen recently. They will want some cheap Canadian crude too - lets say 200,000 bbls per day. They aren't the only Quebec refiners, so Petro-Canada will want some, say another 100,000 bbls per day or more.
2. A certain amount must be doled out to keep the Imperial Oil refinery in Dartmouth a viable entity, and even expand, say 100,000 bbls per day. The pipeline will never be extended from Saint John to Halifax, so Irving will have to guarantee sea or rail delivery of the 100,000 bbls per day as a cost of doing business.

Refined product is distributed to all of Atlantic Canada, and into Quebec from Halifax.

3. If Irving Oil gets the rest, 600,000 bbls per day, that would allow them to double the size of their current refinery.
They are already getting Bakken crude from North Dakota by rail, so they are already competitive in the US retail market, where most of their output goes now. However they are still selling into the Canadian market as if their crude comes from overseas. Therefore the price of this deal to Irving must be that they sell refined product in Canada at the same price as Alberta pays for gasoline at their pumps (taxes excluded of course.)
4. Drastically bringing down the price of gasoline in Atlantic Canada would of course probably mean that all Newfoundland offshore oil production would have to cease because it would no longer be competitive in Canada. However it could be exported more widely without any messy pipeline debates in B.C, and it is a lot nicer oil than Alberta tar/ shale/ bitumen/ or what ever critics want to term it.Newfoundland oil is "clean" oil by comparison. Of course the lower price of fuel in Atlantic Canada can only spur our economy - or does that really matter?

Newfoundland shuttle tankers would still shuttle oil to terminals where it would be sold abroad for world prices, however it would be too expensive to use in Canada.

5. What must not be allowed to happen is for Alberta bitumen to sell at international prices as as soon as it hits tidewater. Irving must guarantee to use every drop of its 600,000 bbls and not to sell any crude - only to sell refined product. Canada must become absolutely 100% weaned off foreign crude oil before a single drop of Alberta bitumen leaves our shores. Ultramar, Imperial and the others must also agree to this deal and not sell their their share overseas either.

Why can't Canada become self-sufficient in oil and gas?

6. TransCanada Pipeline of course will also be part of this deal, and they will want to rake off transmission costs to actually pay for the pipeline. I propose a policy shift here however. Instead of the "meter" being at the user end (like electricity or water) I propose that the meter be at the "producer" end and that the Alberta producers pay a rate to ship their product off their property. They can still sell the oil per bbl, but they must also pay the shipping cost, so that all users along the length of the pipeline pay the plant gate price for the crude.
Regrettably I have no ability to bully the National Energy Board, so my Amber Light remains a caution, and I expect most "drivers", like the Oil Minister, will blast right through it instead of slowing to a halt and stopping to think this through.

This tanker was called British Destiny. What will be Canada's Destiny?

The fourth in the series of CCG Mid-Shore Patrol Vessels (MSPV) Constable Carrière has moved closer to launch position. After being rolled out January 4,
it has remained close to the building hall. As of Friday, it has now
been moved away f rom the building. This is likely to allow for the next
boat in the series to be rolled out for painting. Based on the threE previous boats, launch will be sometime in toward the end of March.
On Friday Corporal Teather C.V., third boat in the series, was drydocked for a few hours on the Novadock. Reports indicate that this may have been to perform some sonar adjustments.

Friday, February 1, 2013

CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent sailed this morning for the Saguenay River. After trials in Bedford Basin yesterday, the ship took on more bunkers at anchorage, from Algoma Dartmouth last evening.
It remained at anchor in the Basin over night and "upped anchor" about 1030 hrs, in the midst of a brief snow squall. They can expect much worse when they reach the Saguenay, with fierce weather predicted in the next few days.

1. North Contender passes the new pier 9C extension project in the Narrows...

2. ... then under the MacKay bridge, headed for Bedford Basin anchorage.

The chemical tanker North Contender anchored in Bedford Basin this morning awaiting her turn at Imperial Oil.* The ship was built in 2005 by Fukuoka Shipbuilding Co in Japan, and is owned by a Japaense company based in Panama, but is operating for Eitzen Chemical (USA) LLC, one of the largest chemical tanker fleets with a fleet of fifty ships.They are frequent callers in Halifax, usually with the prefix "Sichem".
If flies the flag of Panama and is a ship of 11,662 gross tons and 19,925 deadweight tonnes.It is fitted with heated stainless steel cargo tanks, and can carry a number of different products at the same time.
More about Eitzen and its fleet: http://www.eitzen-chemical.com/
In the fleet list, under the ship's name you will find a capacity drawing, a general arrangement drawing and a "Q88" form, which gives every conceivable detail about the ship.

* the ship never did go to Imperial Oil. It sailed on Saturday February 2 for the St.Lawrence River. It shows on the Port of Trois-Rivières web site.